Masashi ‘Jumbo’ Ozaki, Japan’s Top Rated Pro Golfer with 133 Career Wins, Dies of Cancer at Age of 78

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:47 JST, December 24, 2025

Professional golfer Masashi Ozaki, known by his nickname “Jumbo Ozaki” and long regarded as Japan’s best player with a record 113 career wins including 94 on the Japan Golf Tour, died of sigmoid colon cancer on Tuesday at the age of 78.

Ozaki, who hailed from Tokushima Prefecture, led the prefecture’s Kainan Senior High School to victory as the ace pitcher at the 1964 National Invitational High School Baseball Tournament. He later joined the Nishitetsu Lions, which is now the Saitama Seibu Lions, in 1965 but left in 1968 after he was unsuccessful on the professional stage.

After switching to golf, Ozaki’s impressive driving distance and charismatic personality sparked a massive boom in the popularity of the sport. He established the “AON” era alongside Isao Aoki and Tsuneyuki Nakajima, and between the beginning of the tour system in 1973 until 1998 topped the money list a record 12 times. Ozaki’s brothers Tateo and Naomichi were also professional golfers and all three were collectively known as the “Three Ozaki Brothers.”

Ozaki continued to compete in regular tour events well into his 60s, becoming the fourth Japanese golfer elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011. In recent years, he dedicated himself to nurturing the next generation; his proteges Yuka Saso and Mao Saigo have been successful on the U.S. tour, winning major tournaments.

A farewell ceremony for Ozaki will be held at a later date.